Some electronic devices such as a computer may include one or more serial ports that allow connection to an external peripheral device like a modem. If a peripheral device required power from the computer, the serial port could be changed to a powered mode. However, to change the serial port mode, the computer would need to be shut down, its cover removed, and one or two jumpers would need to be changed within the electronics. If a computer has four configurable ports that used two jumpers per port, a user could possibly need to move eight jumpers to reconfigure all four ports. In some computers, the manufacturer pre-configures the ports to be powered or not powered by performing the same process. However, once configured and the housing is closed, a customer has no indication of which mode the serial port is configured in. If a port is in a powered mode, an external device that does not require power should not be connected into the powered port. Manually configuring serial ports between powered mode and non-powered mode can be time consuming and may need special knowledge of the internal electronics of a computer.